A Wielder of Purple Flames
by Anime PJ
Summary: I tried to live the regular life of a high school student, but I am anything but regular. I have skills I was trained to use in a past I don't think about, a Sacred Gear that gives me control over powerful purple flames, but all I want to do is try and live a normal life. But then a classmate is endangered, and I just can't sit back anymore ... OC/Akeno. Slow updates - be patient.
1. A Pervert's Sacred Gear

**Greetings, Constant Readers, and welcome to my newest story! This is going to be my second story for _High School DxD_ , and I'm pleased to say that this one is going to be much more in my usual style, meaning no harems (sorry if that disappoints anyone, but to be quite honest, writing _The Hyoudou Brothers_ is quite difficult for me because of the whole harem thing). My OC will be paired with Akeno _only_. Take it or leave it.**

 **I've been back and edited this since I wrote it, and it's now in the first person from Tai's point of view. I've been doing this to all my stories, so it shouldn't be a problem.**

 **With that out of the way, this isn't going to be your typical human-becomes-a-Devil-alongside-Issei story; I've already done that with _The Hyoudou Brothers_. My character in this story is going to remain very much human throughout, though he will be in the possession of a Longinus Sacred Gear – Incinerate Anthem, to be exact. I like fire, I'm a bit of a pyromaniac, though not to the extreme.**

 **His backstory will be revealed later in the story (we're talking the somewhere in the Riser Arc), as I don't like rushing into that sort of thing. I hope you guys can enjoy this.**

 **Oh, and another thing: While when I originally started this I was going to be basing it on the animé, I've now changed my mind and decided to go off the light novels simply because I feel it's a better idea. That being said, I will still be cutting this into separate stories, simply because it helps me to keep things organised. There'll probably be three or four story arcs in each one, maybe more depending on what I want to write.**

 **Now, there were originally going to be crossover elements in here, and there still are, but it's going to be done a different way. You see, while I was originally going to do this as a semi-crossover with _Supernatural_ (which is still happening, just not in this story), I thought of a better idea for this one, one that will allow me to implement crossover elements from series that you wouldn't have expected to go well together with _DxD_. I won't spoil anything, but suffice to say that some serious shit will be going down in this story's future.**

 **That's basically all I've got to say, so I welcome you all to _A Wielder of Purple Flames_!**

 **Let's begin.**

* * *

A Pervert's Sacred Gear

I sighed to myself in boredom as I leaned against one of the outside walls of Kuoh Academy. I had my hands stuffed in my pockets as I kept my eyes on three very particular individuals.

 _Go on, peak in on the girls' changing room again, I fucking_ dare _you,_ I thought to myself menacingly.

The group of students I was keeping my eyes on were known around school as the Perverted Trio. The group consisted of Matsuda, an almost bald student with abnormally large ears; Motohama, a student with box TV glasses who was said to be able to calculate a girl's "measurements" just by looking at them; and Issei Hyoudou, the only member of the group I had any particular interest in.

My name is Taisho Kurkawa, by the way. My friends call me Tai.

Issei Hyoudou was seventeen years old – the same age as myself – and a second year at Kuoh Academy. His hair was short and brown and unkempt, and he had light brown eyes to match. He wore the Kuoh Academy boys' uniform, which consisted of a white dress-shirt with a black ribbon on the collar, a black blazer with white accents, matching black trousers, and a pair of brown dress shoes – Issei kept the dress-shirt open, and wore a red T-shirt underneath. He was of particular interest to me because I could sense something within Issei that none of the other students could (none of the _human_ students, anyway): a Sacred Gear.

But it wasn't _just_ a Sacred Gear. No; that would have made things _much_ too simple. Issei Hyoudou, one of the least popular and most perverted students in the whole school, was in possession of a Longinus Sacred Gear. I, through much experience, could sense the damn thing … but which one it was, I did not know.

It was the fact that Issei had a Longinus that made me not only take an interest in him, but also grow rather concerned for him. Sacred Gear possessors were _always_ important; anyone who had any degree of real power in the world likely had one, as did most of the important historical figures throughout the countless centuries humanity had ruled the Earth. But most Sacred Gears were insignificant in the grand scheme of things; it was the Sacred Gears with _real_ power that drew attention, the Sacred Gears that could turn the tide in a battle, the ones that could actually be considered a threat to the enemies of the possessor. The Longinus Sacred Gears were the most powerful of these, and their wielders tended to get … noticed.

And not in the most pleasant of ways, as I well knew.

The three perverts seemed to catch sight of me – though they didn't appear to notice that I was watching them – and began to look angry, chatting amongst themselves and making aggressive arm movements. I knew I wasn't a bad looking guy – I was considered quite handsome, as a matter of fact – and the Perverted Trio, due to their inability to get girlfriends based on how perverted they were, were known to take personal offence to anybody who was considered more handsome than they were. But as much as they hated me, I knew there was one person they hated much more than me or anyone else …

" _Aaaah_!" the unmistakable cry of the creatures known as "fangirls" rang through the air.

I turned my attention toward the commotion. _Speak of the Devil,_ I thought, then laughed at how appropriate a thought that was given the circumstances. The male student who was currently being approached by three of his fangirls had short blonde hair, grey eyes, and Caucasian skin. He had a handsome, youthful face, with a mole just beneath his left eye. He was slim, and he wore the Kuoh Academy uniform in the formal way it was meant to be worn. This was the school "prince," Kiba Yuuto.

If the Perverted Trio were angry about my presence, they were positively _raging_ at Kiba's. It may have had something to do with the fact that Kiba was currently surrounded by a group of relatively cute girls who were asking him to hang out with them, but they would have reacted negatively to his presence either way. Kiba gave the girls a polite smile, which had them positively melting, and said something that made them deflate a little, then he walked away toward the Old School Building which had once been a part of the main school, but was no longer in use other than as the headquarters of the Occult Research Club.

I found myself grinning involuntarily. _Those Devils didn't put much of an effort into hiding themselves, did they?_ I thought. Then I turned my attention back to the Perverted Trio and noticed them sneaking off somewhere. After a brief moment of thought, I knew _exactly_ where they were going. _Oh, for fuck sake._ I ground my teeth in irritation, then walked over to the sport building – which the Perverted Trio had sneaked behind – and went in. I walked until I found the girls' changing room, and I knocked on the door.

After a few moments, one of the kendo team's captains – Murayama – opened the door, blushed lightly upon seeing me, and fixed me with a scrutinising gaze shortly afterwards. "What?" she asked, slightly aggressively.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," I said, "but you might want to check for any holes in the wall. I'm afraid Issei, Matsuda and Motohama were just sneaking around behind the building."

Murayama's eyes sharpened considerably, and she scowled. "Thank you for the warning," she said, before closing the door again.

I shrugged at the abrupt end of the conversation, and began to walk out of the building. I got out just in time to see Matsuda and Motohama running for their lives; shortly after this, I heard the tell-tale sounds of wood hitting flesh, along with screams of pain that I easily recognised as belonging to Issei Hyoudou. _I guess the girls took the back exit of the building,_ I thought. I sighed to myself. Hyoudou seemed, by all accounts, to be a good guy, but this problem he had with perversion was dragging him down _massively_. It didn't help that he had a powerful Sacred Gear, meaning he would be, sooner or later, dragged into the world of the supernatural whether he liked it or not.

 _Come to think of it, I wonder if Rias has noticed his Sacred Gear …?_ Upon the thought entering my mind, I changed course once again, this time heading toward the Old School Building. If Rias Gremory – the head of the Occult Research Club and master of the Devils who made up said club – had indeed noticed that Hyoudou was in possession of a Longinus, then she would doubtlessly be seeking to recruit him as one of her servants. The more likely scenario, however, was that she could sense his Sacred Gear but was unable to tell that it was a Longinus; the only reason I myself knew was because I had been specifically trained to sense Longinus Sacred Gears, training that not many people, even in the supernatural world, were given.

I entered the Old School Building and walked through rather casually, already knowing exactly where I was going. I caught sight of my reflection in the windows as I walked through the hallways. I was pale, tall, and skinny. My hair was brown, mid-length, and tangled, unkempt to the point where it became a style all its own. My eyes were a deep, unusual purple colour, and they seemed to shine like jewels in the light of the sun. I wore the Kuoh Academy boys' uniform loosely; it hung baggy on my lanky form.

I found a set of stairs, walked up them, walked to the end of a hall, and came upon a door that had strange, demonic-looking symbols all over it. I knocked in a bit of a light rhythm and waited.

"Come in," said a feminine voice from inside.

As I entered the ORC clubroom, the first thing I took in was the sound of the shower, meaning that Rias was currently indisposed. The second thing I noticed was that there was only one other person in the room, and it wasn't Kiba, so I thought it safe to assume he had already left on a contract. The room was covered in occult symbols on the wall, ceiling, and even the floor; there was a desk on one side of the room, and in the centre there was a coffee table surrounded by two sofas and an armchair.

The only person in the room upon my entering was an eighteen year old girl named Akeno Himejima, well known around school for being one of the Two Great Ladies, alongside Rias Gremory herself. She had smooth, lightly tanned skin, and long, flowing black hair that was tied in a ponytail that reached her knees; the ponytail was tied using an orange ribbon. Her eyes, a lovely shade of violet, only served to highlight her already beautiful facial features. She had an incredibly voluptuous figure, with many students – myself included, admittedly – thinking that she had the biggest breasts of any girl in the school. She wore the typical Kuoh Academy girls' uniform: A white dress-shirt with a black ribbon, a black corset with matching shoulder cape, a dark red, incredibly short skirt with white highlights, and a pair of brown dress-shoes. She made herself slightly unique, however, by wearing a pair of knee-length black stockings.

I had to fight down a heavy blush upon seeing her, for I was one of the many boys in the school with a crush on Akeno Himejima.

"Afternoon, Akeno," I said, shaking off the bashfulness that would have consumed anyone with less confidence. But I still felt a certain wave of excitement and warmth that I'm sure all people feel when in the room with their crush.

"Hello, Tai," said Akeno. Ironically, I would best describe her voice as the voice of an Angel. While I was not one of them, nor did I spend as much time with them as most people spend with their friends, I was still on good enough terms with them for them to shorten my name if they wanted to. Akeno's face morphed into the smirk I recognised as her signature teasing expression. "Coming up here while I'm all on my own? How devious of you." She released a sweet little laugh, a laugh that was music to my ears.

I could feel heat rising to my cheeks, but I pushed it down. "But you're not alone," I said. I could feel a grin growing on my face. "Judging from the sound of the shower, Rias is very much here."

"But as you say, she's in the shower," said Akeno. "She can't rush out, or she might have an accident. What's a poor, defenceless girl like me to do if she can't get here on time …?"

A chuckle slipped through my lips; Akeno was _anything_ but poor and defenceless. "One can only imagine." Casual flirting was something the two of us did pretty much every time we interacted. It causes quite a stir when we do so in the view of other students of the school, Akeno being the second most popular girl in the whole school and all. While most had convinced themselves that our flirting was just friendly banter, I could never help but wonder, _hope_ , that it meant she liked me in the same way I liked her …

"In all seriousness, though," I said, my grin dropping and my face setting in a serious expression. "I've come here because I've become curious about a specific student. I wondered if Rias had picked up on the same things I have. You know how she gets those 'feelings' and all."

"Who do you want to know about?" Akeno was in full business mode, her hands held together in front of her.

"A student by the name of Issei Hyoudou. You've probably heard of him and his two friends. They make up the infamous Perverted Trio."

Akeno brought a finger to her chin, an expression appearing on her face like she was thinking. "That's interesting," she said. "Rias asked about him a moment before she got into the shower. She said there wasn't any particular reason, but if you're asking, too …"

"It's probably nothing," I lied, waving a dismissive hand in the air. "I just get a funny feeling about him, is all." I looked around a little, trying to find something to draw the conversation away from this subject. My eyes landed on a chess set, where the white pieces were set up so that the red side (taking the place of the traditional black) had lost. "Who won?" I asked, nodding toward the chess set.

"Rias," Akeno told me.

"Ah, makes sense," I said. My eyes widened when I noticed Akeno raising an eyebrow at me, and I realised what I had just implied. "N-not that you're stupid or anything, Akeno, it's just, well, you know …" I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. My face felt like it was on fire. "Rias, being the King, does all the strategy stuff, that's all I meant."

Akeno giggled at me. "You're so cute when you're squirming," she said.

"And _you're_ cute when you tease me for it," I said. I was grinning again. I cleared my throat. "Well, I guess I'll be going now. See you around, Akeno." I made to turn around and leave, but the feel of Akeno's hand resting on my arm stopped me dead. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest at the contact.

"Why don't you stay and have some tea first?" said Akeno. "It'll let us do some catching up."

I made a show of thinking about it for a moment – there was no way in hell I was ever going to say no. "You know, I think I will," I said after a few moments of mock thought. "Only a fool with no taste buds would be able to resist your tea, Akeno."

Akeno laughed. "You flatter me, but thank you anyway. I'll just go make it." She walked off to get the kettle boiling.

I sat down on one of the sofas and waited patiently for the tea to be done. When Akeno arrived with it, I thanked her, and the two of us made polite conversation as we drank the delicious, steaming hot beverage. I was done and gone before Rias even exited her shower. I _could_ have waited in order to tell her about Hyoudou's Longinus, but I thought better of it. The supernatural world was not for the faint of heart; it was full of things that could kill an inexperienced person in a heartbeat. I didn't want to subject _anyone_ to that who didn't need to be. Due to the nature of the Longinus, Hyoudou was inevitably going to become involved in the supernatural world, that was true, but wouldn't it be a kindness to keep him away from it for as long as possible? Some people just weren't built to last in the world of the supernatural, and judging from Hyoudou's habit of being beaten up by the school kendo team on a regular basis, he was one of them. So until Issei proved he could handle himself, or was in danger from the supernatural anyway, I would keep my mouth shut.

I could only hope Rias would forgive me for keeping secrets about a potential servant.

* * *

It was the very next day that I decided it would be wise to tell Rias about Issei's Longinus. The thing that happened on that morning was strange in and of itself, but for me and anyone else who was supernaturally inclined, it was particularly suspicious. On that morning, much to the horror of his two perverted friends, Issei Hyoudou came to school … with a _girlfriend_.

But she wasn't human. After observing the happy couple for barely a few minutes, I could tell that this "Yuuma Amano" was a Fallen Angel.

 _Fallen Angels don't just turn up out of the blue and decided to date humans,_ I thought, narrowing my eyes at the scene of Hyoudou using his new girlfriend to taunt Matsuda and Motohama. _Fallen Angels_ may _be known for their sinful nature, with the lust and the greed and all that shit, but they normally just do what they're there to do and then leave. If this one's sticking around, then it's for one reason and one reason only: The Sacred Gear._

But what would a random Fallen Angel want with a high school boy's Sacred Gear? It may have been a Longinus, but there would have been more warning that someone was going to make a move if somebody was actively after it; hell, they'd have just _kidnapped_ him if they wanted it that badly. There was something else going on here …

 _I hear their leader has a bit of a Sacred Gear fetish,_ I thought to myself, trying to come up with answers to all these questions. _But … I think if he wanted to study it that badly, he'd have come and done it himself. What, then? Are they tracking down Sacred Gear users for something?_ That was a scary thought, especially since the Angels, Fallen Angels, and the Devils had been at each other's throats for a few thousand years at least. But … _No,_ I thought again. _There aren't nearly enough war mongers among the Fallen Angels for that to be what's happening; the peace they have at the moment may be pretty shaky, but it's still peace, and I don't think anyone wants to be on the side that ignites a second War of the Three Factions. So, what does that leave me with …?_

I stood there, a hand under my chin, considering the possibilities for what the Fallen Angel might be here for. Then my eyes widened as one final possibility entered my mind.

 _What if … what if it's a rogue Fallen Angel group? There's only one of them here, but it would_ have _to be a group, you'd have to be an idiot to make moves like this on your own. It makes some form of sense: A group of Fallen Angels come into town with a plan, but they spot an unknown Sacred Gear user, and they don't know whether he'll be a threat to their plans or not – because let's face it, the odds are that they don't recognise it as a Longinus just yet – so they send one of their own in to observe. But … I can't know this for sure … Rias should know if there have been Fallen Angels moving in her territory. If there are and she hasn't done anything, it's probably because they haven't shown any open hostility just yet, so that'd explain why they've been left to go about their business._

Well, then, it was settled. I would go to the ORC clubroom before school starts and ask Rias about Fallen Angel activity in the area. There was always still a chance that this was just a random Fallen Angel who got her kicks from screwing with humans, but … if this _was_ a group of rogues, I would tell Rias about Hyoudou's Longinus. Hyoudou would be unexpectedly brought into the supernatural world, that's true, but he would be a lot more protected if the Devils were the ones to make a move on him first.

That in mind, I pushed myself off of the wall I'd been leaning on and began to walk toward the Old School Building. _Two visits in two days,_ I thought to myself with a bit of a grin. _God, sooner or later I'll be_ living _here._ I laughed lightly as I entered the building.

I got to the door, just as I had the day before, and knocked. I knew I was welcome, but it was always polite to give some way of announcing your presence when entering a room somebody else occupied.

"Come in," came a voice, feminine, but a different voice from Akeno's.

I went in.

They were all in there that morning. There was Kiba and Akeno, but the other two members of the ORC were in there, too, both of them young women.

One of them was a fifteen year old first year girl by the name of Koneko Toujou. She, like the other members of the club, was quite popular in her own right, being referred to as the "school mascot" due to her small frame and stoic nature. She had Caucasian skin, snow white hair, and a pair of hazel eyes. There was a black cat-shaped hair clip on either side of her hair. She wore the standard Kuoh Academy girls' uniform, sans the shoulder cape. As mentioned, she was rather small for her age, barely coming up to about five feet tall.

The other girl was the King of the castle herself, Rias Gremory of the Gremory family of Devils. True to form, she was indeed fitted to being the most popular girl in school. She was a beautiful eighteen year old girl with flawless, practically white Caucasian skin. Her most distinguishing feature was her long, crimson red hair that flowed all the way down to her thighs. Her eyes were a blue-green colour. Her figure was buxom and provocative, though it was argued – by myself and others – that Akeno had the bigger "assets" of the two. Rias was the other half of the Two Great Ladies. She had the appearance of a model student, wearing the Kuoh Academy girls' uniform to perfection.

"Hello, Taisho," Rias greeted me upon my entry into the room. She was a little more formal with me than the others were, always calling me by my full first name. Despite her formal attitude, however, she smiled at me as kindly as she would smile at others. "It's nice to be able to see you today. I could hear you and Akeno flirting even over the sound of the shower."

"My, my, Tai," Akeno said with a blatantly false look of curiosity. "Visiting two days in a row, that's not like you. Did you just come to see little old me …?"

I smirked. "Maybe." Then my smirk was gone and my eyes were on Rias. "Rias, I need to ask you something. Please don't ask why; I'll tell you if what I'm thinking turns out to be right, but otherwise it's irrelevant."

Rias frowned a little, then asked, "What would you like to know?"

"Has there been any unexplained or suspicious Fallen Angel activity in the area?" I asked.

Rias' frown deepened, and she raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Yes, now that you mention it," she said. "There's a small group of them operating somewhere in town – the abandoned church, we think, but we're not sure – but they haven't been acting hostile, so we haven't really bothered with them. We've just been keeping an eye out in case they do try anything."

"I think they might be," I said. It was like someone had dropped a bowling ball in my stomach; I _had_ to tell them now. "Do you know of a student called Issei Hyoudou?"

"… Isn't that the pervert you got me to follow yesterday, Rias?" asked Koneko in a dull, monotone voice that had just a hint of curiosity in it.

I looked at her. "You followed him?" She nodded. I looked back at Rias. "So you sensed the Sacred Gear, too, then?"

"I did," Rias said, nodding. "I only got a weak power signature from it, though, but I had Koneko follow him out of curiosity. I wanted to see if she could get a good sense on exactly _what_ it was."

"… The power reading on it is higher than it initially seems," said Koneko.

"It's a Longinus," I said, much to the surprise and confusion of the others. "I don't know which one it is, but it's _definitely_ a Longinus." They looked at me doubtfully. "Come on, guys, I've told you about my training, you _know_ I wouldn't mistake something like this. And this morning Hyoudou walked in with a Fallen Angel hanging off his arm. Trust me, some serious shit is going down."

There was silence.

"I think it's worth looking into." Akeno was the first to speak up. That added onto my confidence a little.

"Yeah," said Kiba. "If Tai's right, Hyoudou could be a valuable person to have on the Peerage."

"… He may be a pervert, but he might be useful," Koneko said reluctantly.

Rias' frown held for a moment, then she chuckled softly as she stared at the lot of us around the room. She looked directly at me. "Oh, how I sometimes wish you'd accepted the offer to join my Peerage," she said. "Your Sacred Gear and your powers of persuasion are both things to be in awe of."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "It was nice of you to offer, but I don't think the servant life will fit me like it fits some others," I said.

Rias chuckled again. "Indeed." She closed her eyes and thought for a moment. "All right. We'll keep an eye on this Issei Hyoudou. I hope you're right about him, Taisho. His Sacred Gear may not be quite as week as it first appears, but it still doesn't feel Longinus level."

"Trust me," I said. "I'm not making a mistake. Some of them have been known to take a weaker form at first, but become a Longinus when a certain emotional breakthrough is reached. I once heard of a wielder of Incinerate Anthem who originally thought they had Flame Shake."

"Well, all right, I'll trust your judgement," said Rias. "I'm still curious as to the details of your training, though. You've demonstrated it, but you have never gone into detail."

"And I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you," I said, the small smile on my face fading away completely. "Good day." I turned around to leave.

"You should come and visit more often," said the lovely voice of Akeno, stopping me in my tracks. "It's nice having you here."

I found myself smirking again. "Well, if you're here every day, I just might have to show up every day," I said. I knew full well that she would be there practically every day of the week, but this was the first time one of them had suggested that I come back more often … and the fact that it was coming from Akeno made me have to fight down a rather heavy blush. "I can never get enough of your beautiful face."

Akeno held a hand up to her face and laughed with false bashfulness. "Tai, stop it, people might talk if you keep saying things like that," she said.

"People do little else," I said with a final grin. "I'll see you guys later."

Then I left.

* * *

My week was relatively peaceful after that. I spent all of my remaining mornings with the ORC – having decided that I could do with some social interaction (it had nothing to do with the fact that Akeno was there; nope, nothing at all) – and even a few of my afternoons. Looking back on it, I realised that if I hadn't passed my eyes over Hyoudou that one day after school, I wouldn't have known about the Longinus, and I wouldn't have gone up to the ORC clubroom to talk about it, and I wouldn't have decided to visit more often.

It would seem I had something to thank Issei Hyoudou for, even if the perverted boy wouldn't have a clue what he was being thanked for.

And that was why on Sunday night, after a day of doing basically nothing, I had a surprisingly strong reaction to a phone call. My phone rang and I answered pretty much instantly, not even taking my eyes off the TV I was watching. "Hello," I said.

"Taisho, it's Rias," said the voice of Rias Gremory. I was surprised; I didn't recall giving her my number … "I've got something to tell you, seeing as you seem so interested in the case of Issei Hyoudou."

I paused the TV where it was. "What is it?" I asked. "What about Hyoudou?"

"Taisho … the Fallen Angel killed him," Rias said, hesitantly.

I stiffened in my seat. "What?" I started to feel angry. Hyoudou may have been a pervert, but he was still, by all accounts, an innocent human being who hadn't done anything wrong. If anything, I had expected the Fallen Angels to attempt to recruit him for his Longinus, but _this_ … My mind failed to comprehend why they had done this to somebody who had no ill intentions toward them, no matter how much power he was unknowingly hiding away.

"Don't worry, though," said Rias. "I had my Familiar give him one of our fliers, just in case. He used it just before he died, so I was able to reincarnate him as one of my servants."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Eternal servitude may not sound great to some, myself included, but the Gremory family were well known for treating their servants as family rather than slaves, so I thought Hyoudou would get along quite well with the situation. "That's good to hear," I said, relieved. "So, what, are you going to explain everything to him tomorrow?"

"I actually think I'll give him a few days to adjust to the changes his body is going to go through before I spring the news on him," said Rias. I was slightly sceptical of this idea. "But I have a favour to ask of you, if I may?"

That piqued my curiosity. "Go on," I said.

"I'd like you to watch over him for that time, if it's not too much of a bother," said Rias. "I'd have one of the others do it, but they all have contracts to fulfil over the next few days, so I can't really spare anyone. It would be really helping us out."

"Say no more," I told her. "I brought him to your attention, so it's partially my responsibility for putting you in this situation. I'll keep an eye on Hyoudou and step in if trouble pops up."

"Thank you."

"Say hi to Akeno for me," I said as I went to hang up the phone.

" _Only_ Akeno?" I had never heard the tone of voice Rias had when she was teasing before, but it was certainly effective if the sudden redness of my face was any indication.

"Er … the others, too, if they're there," I said awkwardly. I forced a small, tense laugh to escape my mouth. "Goodbye." I hung up the phone quickly.

I mentally slapped myself. Oh, sure, I could flirt with Akeno without a problem, but someone teases me about it and I get all flustered! What the fuck was I, twelve years old? Who the hell gets flustered by teasing over the damn _phone_ , anyway!?

I sighed to myself. _Great, now I'm getting all worked up …_ I thought. _And it's not even about the right thing. I should probably be more concerned that Hyoudou is now a Devil, and the Fallen Angels' plan is apparently important enough to them that they're willing to kill a potential asset … unless they don't realise it's a Longinus. Rias did say that it didn't feel like a Longinus to her, so maybe it didn't for them, either …?_ I found myself smirking. _Well, then, as unfortunate as it is that Hyoudou's girlfriend ended up killing him, it looks like Rias might now have a trump card on the Peerage. This should be interesting._

It was then that I realised I still had the TV on pause. I unpaused it and watched _The X-Files_ (which was a damn good show, no matter how inaccurate it could be) until late into the night, at which point I went to sleep.

* * *

 _I'm going to_ really _fucking regret agreeing to this, aren't I?_ I asked myself as I sat in a tree outside of Matsuda's house late at night. It was the day after Hyoudou had died, and his new discomfort in the sun was very easy to see. He had also gone around asking about the girl he had come to school with the week before, but nobody seemed to remember her existing at all. That wasn't a surprise to me, since it was pretty standard procedure for supernatural beings to wipe the memories of those they encountered if they didn't want their presence to be recognised by anyone. By all accounts, Hyoudou had taken dying and then waking up in bed the very next morning surprisingly well.

But then he just _had_ to agree to go to Matsuda's house after school. This would not have been a problem under most circumstances – going to a friend's house after school was a perfectly normal thing to do. It was what the Perverted Trio were _doing_ in that house that made me seriously reconsider my promise to watch over Hyoudou for Rias.

They were watching pornography … as a group … in Matsuda's bedroom … with the lights off …

I sighed from my spot in the tree. Despite my sudden doubts as to the sexual orientation of these three – because who in their right mind watches porn as a group? – I _had_ promised to keep my eye on Hyoudou, and I was not going to break my word because I happened to be uncomfortable with what Hyoudou was doing at the time. I just had to keep reminding myself that it was only for a few days, just until Hyoudou had grown used to all the new feelings enough for Rias to bring up that he was now a Devil, and I would never have to sit outside while the Perverted Trio gushed over people having sex on a screen ever again.

 _I haven't felt the presence of a Fallen Angel today,_ I thought to myself. _I hope that means they think they finished the job. It would be a massive pain in the ass if they decided to see if he stayed dead …_

Barely a moment after I had had that thought, the front door of Matsuda's house opened and Hyoudou stepped out into the street. He seemed a little disoriented, which confused me because Devils are supposed to be stronger at night. Hyoudou began moving through the streets with that same dazed look about him, and I dropped down from my spot in the tree and followed. I was careful to always stay far enough behind that I could easily find cover should Hyoudou turn around, while also making sure that Hyoudou was within my field of vision at all times, though the darkness of the night made that somewhat difficult for me.

Hyoudou suddenly stopped just outside an alleyway, and he appeared to be looking down it, then he looked down at a fist he had made with his hand. Once again he seemed confused, disoriented. I could see that he was muttering to himself, though I could not hear what he was saying. Hyoudou's head suddenly shot up, and he stared intently down the street, right at a mother and her small child. This time, instead of muttering, Hyoudou spoke loud enough that I could just barely make out the words.

"This is insane … how can I hear them from so far away?"

I couldn't hear a word the parent and her child were saying, but that's when it hit me. _Ah, this is his first time noticing the acute hearing he has now that he's a Devil,_ I realised. _And the night vision …_ that's _why he seems so confused, the night vision is allowing him to see everything as if it were the middle of a sunny day. I'm actually rather impressed; most people would have had a panic attack by now._

It would seem I had that thought a little too soon, as Hyoudou took off in a run near enough the second my thought process had ended. I took off running after him, but stayed far enough back that Hyoudou never once noticed my presence. It would have been difficult for any other human, keeping up with a Devil running in the dark, but while I may have been human, I was far from ordinary. I kept my pace until Hyoudou began to run into the park, where I sped my pace up but kept amongst the trees. That was good. I could get closer without revealing myself.

Hyoudou stopped running by the fountain, and I stood just behind the treeline, watching curiously. Hyoudou placed one hand on the fountain, almost tenderly.

"This is it …" he said to himself, though I could hear him clearly now. "This is where I took Yuuma on our first date … It was real … it _couldn't_ have been a dream … I remember every single thing about it …" He hung his head solemnly, closing his eyes as he did so.

I felt a large amount of sympathy for Issei Hyoudou in that moment, but I didn't have time to process said feeling as a new presence made itself known a mere fifteen feet away. A Fallen Angel had joined the party.

"Well, this is really unfortunate," said the Fallen Angel in a rough, masculine voice. It was a male Fallen Angel with a long black trenchcoat and a matching fedora. He did not have his wings out, and he didn't seem to know that I was there, but he was staring directly at Hyoudou, who was now looking at the Fallen Angel in fear. "Me running into you, that is." Light began to gather in his palms, signifying that he was trying to create a spear of light.

I didn't even wait for anyone to say anything else. Whereas before there was always a chance that they would have left Hyoudou alone after a period of time, the only reason a Fallen Angel would approach a lone Devil in the middle of the night was to kill them. And I had promised Rias that I would keep an eye on Hyoudou, so …

"I think you should reconsider what you're about to do," I said, stepping out from behind the treeline and standing between Hyoudou and the Fallen Angel, who stopped forming the light in his hand out of surprise. I was looking at the Fallen Angel with a glare. "It's not very polite, sneaking up on people like this. Didn't your mother ever teach you any manners?"

"Kurkawa!?" Hyoudou exclaimed once he had processed my presence. "What the hell are _you_ doing here!?"

"Go home, Hyoudou," I ordered him, never once taking my eyes off the Fallen Angel. "Trust me, you don't want to be in the middle of this."

"But what's—"

"Go home _now_!" I ordered again, cutting him off. He seemed confused, but was clearly too intimidated to ask any of the questions that were sure to be buzzing around in his head by that point. He ran away. I continued to glare at the Fallen Angel, and said, "I'd like to know what you think you're doing, little birdie. This town is _owned_ by Devils, in case you didn't get the memo. Is trying to attack one in the middle of the night really a good idea?"

The Fallen Angel looked curious. "Well, I can see you're not a Devil, so now I'm curious as to why a human such as yourself is so knowledgeable about things like this." He went silent for a moment before stiffening up. "This power level … I know when I'm outmatched, so I'll be bidding you goodnight. Tell the little Devil's master that letting her servants off their leash like that isn't very wise."

"I might." My eyes narrowed. "But we still have a problem, Mr Crow. You see, you just approached an innocent person with the intent to cause harm. I'm afraid I can't stand for that. One of the Devils attacking a Fallen Angel who never got to go through with his attack may cause problems politically, but I, sir, am no Devil, so I doubt this will cause much of an issue. Are we in agreement on that?"

The Fallen Angel clenched his teeth, and there was something that looked very much like fear in his eyes. All of a sudden, a pair of black, feathered wings sprouted from his back, oddly enough not damaging his coat a bit. The Fallen Angel took to the air, leaving a trail of black feathers behind him, in an attempt to leave me behind.

"Oh, I do hate it when they run." I sighed in disappointment. Without even really thinking about it, I raised my arm, which was suddenly engulfed in a large amount of purple fire, though I wasn't bothered by that at all. "Though, I've got to admit, it makes for some damn good target practice."

The dancing purple fire gathered to a point in my hand, then it began to elongate outwards, almost like it was reshaping into something. This was exactly what it was doing, as it formed the rather solid-looking shape of a spear with purple flames dancing their dance of death all along it. I held my arm back, carefully took aim, and flung the spear upward, directly at the Fallen Angel. The spear found its mark, impaling the fleeing Fallen Angel and causing him to practically shriek in pain; these shrieks lasted barely a few seconds before he was silenced, flames sprouting from every orifice in his body, burning him from the inside out.

His body never hit the ground, but his ashes rained down like snow.

I sighed. That was disappointing. I didn't know why I had been expecting a challenge from these Fallen Angels, but for some reason I found it cripplingly disappointing that this one hadn't at least _tried_ to put up a fight. _Oh well,_ I thought. _I'd best let Rias know that a Fallen Angel tried to make a move on her newest servant before she even got the chance to explain everything to him._ I got my phone out and went to call Rias … but then I realised I had deleted my call history and I hadn't saved her number to my contacts list. _Okay, that's fine, I'll just call Akeno and get her to tell Rias._ And that's what I did, briefly reflecting that it was probably Akeno who gave Rias my number to begin with.

"Hello, Tai," said Akeno as she answered the phone. "Calling me up late at night now? Getting very attached to me, aren't you?" There was laughter on her end.

"Akeno, I need you to tell Rias something," I said. The laughter stopped. "A Fallen Angel just tried to make a move on the newest member of the Peerage."

"I'm guessing from the word 'tried' that he didn't succeed?"

I grinned. "He's got a burning fever. It's terrible, really." I chuckled and there was more laughter from the other end of the phone.

I could hear Akeno's voice distantly through the phone, meaning she was probably speaking to Rias. "Rias would like to thank you for your help," she said when she got back.

"I'm not just helping her," I said, smirking. "I'm helping the whole Peerage, and you're on the Peerage, and I could never resist helping a lady as beautiful as you, Akeno." I nearly slapped myself in the forehead just from how cheesy that sounded out loud.

"I'll be sure to remember that for the next time I need something," Akeno said with a laugh. "But I'd be sure to give you a _reward_ for your help, of course."

I chuckled. "Oh, I can only imagine what _that_ could be," I said … and blushed a little as certain _images_ came into my mind. I cleared my throat. "Well, as lovely as it is to hear your radiant voice, Akeno, I think I'd best be getting home before any of this one's friends come looking for him. It's not that I'd have trouble taking them on, it's just that I can't be bothered."

"Rias is planning on telling Issei everything tomorrow after school," Akeno told me. "She thought you'd want to be there."

"All right, I will be," I said. "Goodnight." I hung up the phone.

I sighed to myself, briefly noting that I'd been doing an awful lot of that recently. _Why do I get the feeling that this isn't over by a long shot?_ I asked myself. I brushed it off and headed for home, wanting to get some sleep in before I went to school the next day.

* * *

 **How was that? I'll aadmit I'm a little rusty when it comes to writing out _High School DxD_ , but I'd like to think I did okay. I gave Tai Incinerate Anthem because, just for once, I'd like to make my OC something of a badass, whereas I'm normally so worried about them being OP that they come across as wimps. But this is _DxD_ , so pretty much everyone becomes OP after a point.**

 **I appreciate that having Tai and Akeno do so much flirting this early on may make it seem like things are moving too fast, but come on, you guys have seen the series, you _know_ what Akeno is like. That being said, you don't have to worry, they won't be getting together until at least halfway through—we're talking any time after chapter six, really. The flirting is really just there to say, "Yes, they _are_ interested in each other … but Tai isn't really sure if her flirting actually _means_ anything." And let's face it, Akeno is a natural tease, and she's probably happy that someone can apparently give just as good as he gets.**

 **Well, that's about all I can think of to say for now, so I'll just be signing off. I hope to see you all in the next chapter!**


	2. Introducing Issei to Devilishness

**Hello, and welcome back, Constant Readers! I'm pleased to see how well-received this story has been. I wasn't convinced I was doing a good job, but you lot have proved me wrong, and I thank you for it. I'll admit that I'm having an awful lot of fun with this, mostly because of the multitude of different elements I plan on bringing in in future.**

 **This chapter is where I'm going to start leaving you hints as to the original arcs and content I have planned, as you'll see during the very first scene. The original arcs themselves won't start happening for awhile, but I thought I may as well give you at least a few hints as to what exactly we'll be dealing with.**

 **Let's begin.**

* * *

Introducing Issei to Devilishness

I woke up the next morning feeling rather groggy. It would seem that I had grown too used to the student lifestyle, and being so active so late at night had made me a lot more tired than I realised. I sat up in my bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and yawning, allowing the covers to slide from my half-naked, slightly toned body. I stood up and stretched, then went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

I put some bread in the toaster, then went into the living room of my decently-sized apartment to watch the news. You'd be surprised what you can learn from watching the news. Things that ordinary humans would normally dismiss could be quite telling to those with knowledge of the supernatural.

"—the mystery of missing six year old Shota Yamasaki was solved rather tragically last night," said a news anchor. "Young Mr Yamasaki was reported missing by his family a week ago, and just last night this missing persons case became a murder investigation. The child's body was found in the sewer pipes by a group of sewer workers. The body is said to have been disfigured to the point of non-recognition. This is the third child-related death in the space of a month, and the police are now investigating this as the work of a serial killer. More on the story as it unfolds."

I turned off the TV. The news was so depressing that I really didn't want to watch any more of it.

Thinking on it, though, I couldn't help but get a strange feeling about the recent deaths of children. It was like there was something … _wrong_ going on right under my nose, and I couldn't figure out what it was.

I shook my head of the thought. The odds were that this was a normal human serial killer, and while I would certainly make sure to fry the bastard if I came across him (or her, though it being a man was statistically more likely), I wasn't going to go out of my way to hunt for somebody the human authorities could catch and deal with themselves. I was trying to live a normal human life, and while I had admittedly lapsed in those last few days, I intended to keep to that plan.

That being said, it was hard to ignore the unnatural and slightly familiar feeling that I'd felt around town in recent weeks. I couldn't for the life of me recall where I'd felt this before, but I knew I had.

As I sat down to eat my breakfast of toast and drink my morning tea, my thoughts drifted back to Hyoudou. He doubtlessly had questions about the night before, and by now he had probably put enough of it together in his head to know that I seemed to know what was going on. I recalled that Rias had given me his address when I was keeping an eye on him. I decided that I would go to Hyoudou's house and walk with him to school, if only so I could get a few things out in the air and avoid the scenario of him coming up to me while in school and asking about it all in a confrontational manner. That would have been irritating.

Hyoudou's house turned out to be conveniently close to my own apartment, so the walk took no time at all, which was nice. It was a lovely day, but I didn't see all that many people out in it. It was probably because most people had already left for work or school, and those who weren't exactly morning people were still trying to get their bodies to function properly.

The Hyoudou household was about as ordinary a house as one could hope to see. It gave the fact that the teenage occupant of the house had been killed by a Fallen Angel, reincarnated as a Devil, then once again attacked by a Fallen Angel a strange sort of unreality to it, despite the fact that I knew the whole thing to be true. Honestly, the place just looked a little too … _normal_ to house someone who had gone through all that in the space of a few days.

I shoved such trivial thoughts from my mind and knocked on the front door.

The door was answered a moment later by a middle-aged woman with brown hair. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Good morning, Mrs Hyoudou," I said, smiling a wide smile. "Forgive me, but we've never actually met. I'm Taisho Kurkawa, a classmate of Issei's. Is he still in?" I used Hyoudou's first name to imply that we were friends; it would help his mother to trust me more.

Mrs Hyoudou seemed relatively surprised for a few seconds, blinking at me. Then a smile appeared on her face. "Yes, he is," she said. "He's just finishing off his breakfast. Would you like to come in?"

"That would be wonderful. Thank you."

I stepped into the house, giving Mrs Hyoudou a polite smile, and she closed the door behind me. Now that I was in the house, the tricky part was to speak to Hyoudou without him causing a scene after the events of last night. I decided that there was little I could do to prevent that outcome, and thought I would just give him a look and hope he's got enough self-control to keep from freaking out.

I let Mrs Hyoudou lead me to the kitchen, where Hyoudou and a middle-aged man – presumably his father – were sitting at the table.

"Issei, your friend Taisho is here," said Mrs Hyoudou.

Hyoudou's eyes widened as he caught sight of me, and I levelled him with the best _keep your fucking mouth shut_ stare I could muster. He seemed to get the hint, and other than some sweat beginning to pour from his brow, he kept relatively calm.

"H-Hey, Kurkaw— I mean, Taisho," said Hyoudou. He sounded tense, but he masked it well enough that his parents didn't seem to notice. "What are you doing here so early?"

I shrugged. "Just didn't feel like walking on my own today," I said. "Plus, I thought we could talk a little, y'know. Discuss how our _nights_ have been." I thought he understood what I meant.

"I'm surprised, Issei," Mr Hyoudou said, suddenly. He was looking at me with a half-masked expression of astonishment. "I didn't realise you had friends other than those two lechers you hang out with."

"I know, it surprised me, too," said Mrs Hyoudou. "But Taisho here seems nice enough. Who knows? Maybe he'll have a positive effect on Issei."

"We can only hope, dear. If he manages to straighten Issei out, then all the better for us."

I looked toward Hyoudou with a genuine expression of sympathy. "They always like this?" I asked him. "Talking about you like you're not here?"

"More often than I'd care to admit," he said, sighing.

"You wanna finish your breakfast and get the hell out of here?"

"… Yeah, I think that'd be best."

The very second we had closed the door behind us on the way out of his house, Hyoudou started asking his questions.

"Okay, what the _hell_ was that last night?" he asked, slightly aggressively. "I mean, what was that guy doing in his hand? It was like there was light coming out of it … It was almost like … like …"

"Like the girlfriend no one but you remembers?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.

He looked at me, his eyes wide, startled. "Yeah, but … how do you know …? And how come _you_ remember her, but nobody else does?"

"I know enough about how the supernatural works to avoid having my mind messed with." If anything, he looked even more confused. I sighed. I would explain the basics to him, but Rias would have to go into the specifics later. "They were Fallen Angels, your ex and the guy who tried to attack you last night. Your girlfriend killed you because you have a Sacred Gear; the other guy attacked you because he just happened to find a lone Devil in the middle of the night and thought it'd be fun to kill you. That's it, nothing more to it."

"Yuuma said something about a Sacred Gear …" He muttered it, and I don't think I was supposed to hear, so I gave no indication of doing so. "You expect me to believe all that?" His tone was one of aggression and disbelief. "Devils? Fallen Angels? The hell are you pulling my leg for, Kurkawa? What happened with Yuuma was only a dream … It _had_ to have been …"

He was in denial, and I honestly couldn't say I blamed him if he didn't want to believe that his girlfriend really had maliciously killed him over something he didn't understand.

I sighed. "Look, Hyoudou, I don't have the time nor the patience to explain everything to you in excruciating detail, so you'll just have to wait until you have all this explained to you after school. I'm sorry, for what little that's probably worth at this point, but this is _real_."

We spent the rest of the walk to school in complete silence. Hyoudou didn't know what to say, and I didn't _have_ anything else to say, so there wasn't even an attempt at speaking by either of us. When we got to the school, there were curious whispers around regarding the fact that the two of us didn't normally spend time together, but I ignored those. The other two members of the Perverted Trio greeted me with open hostility when we arrived; I ignored them, too.

I left Hyoudou with a "See you," and headed straight to class.

* * *

As soon as the bell for the end of school rang, I stood from my seat and got moving. I was going to the ORC clubroom, as I had said I would, because, as strange as it may sound to some others, I felt almost responsible for Hyoudou since it was me who really brought him to Rias' attention. Rias was his master, so I would let her do what she needed to do in terms of explanations and teachings, but that strange sense of responsibility that I felt dictated that I should at the very least be there for his induction into this world.

 _What have you gone and done to yourself, Tai?_ I asked myself as I exited the main school building. _You went from trying to lead a normal life to wanting to babysit one of the local perverts, who just so happens to be a newbie Devil. Could I contradict my own goals any more than I already have …?_

The answer was probably yes, but I decided to try not to think about that. I still intended to attempt to live my normal life, but that didn't mean I couldn't at least help Hyoudou get started in the world of the supernatural … right?

Thinking on Hyoudou, I walked out of the school building without him simply because I thought Rias would send one of her servants to get him. Most likely Kiba. Koneko hates perverts more than anyone else I know, and Akeno, as Rias' Queen, is supposed to be by Rias' side at near enough all times when it comes to official matters.

I walked into the Old School Building, and from then on it was a matter of a few moments before I found myself outside the ORC clubroom. I knocked on the door, though it was really only a polite announcement of my presence by this point, and went in.

The only one in there was Koneko, who was sitting on one of the sofas and quietly eating some youkan with a cocktail stick. She looked at me for a brief moment when I entered, nodded quietly, then went back to focusing on her food. I could hear the shower running, which meant Rias was probably in there, and Akeno was likely waiting to help her with a towel or something.

"Hey," I said, sitting on the sofa beside Koneko. The youkan looked nice; I would have asked for one, but I didn't want to get my hand ripped off. I decided to strike up a conversation that was sure to interest her. "So, you try that new sweet shop they opened up town yet?"

She gave a barely noticeable shake of the head. "Not yet," she said in that deadpan voice of hers.

"Me, neither," I said. "One of the other tenants in my apartment building said the stuff they sold was pretty good, though. I might have to bring some stuff from there in sometime since I seem to be taking up a permanent residence in this place before school. I guess you could call it rent, or something like that." I let a chuckle loose from my mouth, though I didn't expect her to laugh. She didn't.

I tried to keep a positive relationship with all the members of the club, and I had been quite successful so far. Koneko and I had bonded because we both have a bit of a sweet tooth.

There was a knock on the door a few moments later. "Rias, I've brought him," said the voice of Kiba.

"Yes, come in," called Rias' voice from the shower.

The door opened, and Kiba walked in accompanied by Hyoudou. I mentally congratulated myself on guessing correctly. Hyoudou walked in and looked around the room with slightly wide eyes, eyeing the magic circle in the corner of the room rather warily. That thing gave off a bit of an odd feeling, I'll admit, but it was fine when you got used to it. Hyoudou's eyes roamed around the room before landing on Koneko and I on the sofa.

"All right, Hyoudou?" I said in greeting.

"… Yeah," he said, a little tensely. I guess he still didn't like me much. "Look, er …" It was almost like he had to force the words out of his mouth. "Thanks for last night, Kurkawa. You know, saving me and all."

I smiled at him. "No problem."

He had a strangely relieved look on his face.

"This is Issei Hyoudou," Kiba said, looking at Koneko, who was looking at Issei with her usual blank look.

"Ah, nice to meet you." Hyoudou bowed his head in greeting.

Koneko barely acknowledged it. She nodded at him, much like she had to me, and carried on eating her youkan.

Hyoudou seemed to perk up a little, then looked around the room for awhile before his eyes finally found the shower room. They widened and he suddenly had a pretty dopey grin on his face. That look stayed there even when the sounds of the shower stopped.

"Rias, take this," came Akeno's voice.

"Thank you, Akeno," said Rias' voice.

Hyoudou's face suddenly went very red, probably thinking about what was going on in that shower room.

"… You look like a lecher," Koneko said whilst looking at Hyoudou's face with distaste. Hyoudou blinked, shook his head, and looked at her, but she had already gone back to eating her youkan.

The sound of the shower room door opening and closing caught my attention, and when I looked over to see if we were about to begin, I saw that only Akeno had exited the room. Rias was probably still drying herself off or getting dressed.

"Afternoon, Akeno," I said when I saw her, a smile forming on my face. Seeing her always brightened up my day. "You're looking particularly radiant today."

She let loose a little laugh. "Hello, Tai," she said. "All those compliments. You'll make a girl blush." She laughed again.

 _Any other girl maybe, but_ you _, I don't think so,_ I thought, grinning. "If I succeed in making you blush, it'll be a damn good day for me."

"I don't doubt it." She turned her eyes to Hyoudou and bowed politely. "Hello, my name is Akeno Himejima. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"O-Oh, my name is Issei Hyoudou," said Hyoudou. His eyes flickered between Akeno and I, and whenever they landed on me I got the distinct impression that he was passing brief glares my way. "N-Nice to meet you, too!" He sounded rather nervous – almost like me when I first met her, I must admit. I wouldn't hold that against him unless he started openly ogling her.

"I'm sorry for the wait," Rias said as she exited the shower room. Her hair was still wet, and its shine seemed to hypnotise Hyoudou the second he laid eyes on it. "I chose to forego a shower last night just in case you got into trouble and Taisho needed backup, so I had to have one now."

"Good to know you have so much faith in me," I said, dryly.

"Don't take it the wrong way," Rias told me. "I know you're perfectly capable of handling yourself, but you're only human, after all. You don't heal as quickly as we do."

"Point taken."

"Anyway, it looks like everyone's here." She turned to Hyoudou. "Issei Hyoudou, we, the Occult Research Club, welcome you … as a Devil."

With how wide Hyoudou's eyes went, you'd think I hadn't told him that exact thing in the morning …

"Here's your tea," Akeno said as she handed him the cup.

"Ah, thank you." He took it and immediately downed the whole steaming beverage. Once again, I couldn't say I blamed him, I'd have needed a drink of something after hearing that sort of thing, too … if I hadn't known about the supernatural beforehand, that is. "It's good," he said, as if he hadn't just poured freshly boiled tea down his throat.

"Thank you very much," said Akeno. She handed me a cup, too, and I thanked her, but we didn't go through our usual flirting due to the seriousness of the situation. She sat down next to Rias.

"I'll get to the point right away," said Rias. "With the pure exception of Taisho, we are all Devils."

"Yeah, Kurkawa said something like that on the way to school," said Hyoudou, disbelieving. "What I really wanna know is, how did he get you guys in on the joke? Or was it _you_ who got _him_ in on the joke?"

"You don't believe it." It wasn't a question, because it was as clear to Rias as it was to us all. "I suppose that can't be helped for the moment. You saw the man with black wings last night, didn't you?"

"I saw a man, but he didn't have wings."

"That's because I got there before he could pull them out," I said. "Trust me, Hyoudou, if you'd ran, you would have seen them."

"Indeed," said Rias, then she looked back at Hyoudou. "That man was a Fallen Angel. They used to be the Angel servants of God, but they fell from the heavens for committing acts of sin. They're also an enemy of us Devils. We've been at war with the Fallen Angels since ancient times. Our two factions have been fighting over the possession of the Underworld, more commonly known to humans as Hell. The Underworld is split in half: one half is inhabited by us, the Devils, and the other half is Fallen Angel territory. We Devils form pacts with humans, and through their payments we grow stronger. The Fallen Angels, on the other hand, exercise control over humans to eliminate us. That's around the point where the Angels come in on God's orders to destroy the both of us. It's a conflict that's been going on since ancient times."

"Hold up, hold up," said Hyoudou, wide-eyed and slightly loud in his disbelief. "You don't actually expect me to believe a story like that, right? Is this sort of thing what members of the Occult Research Club do?"

"The Occult Research Club is just a camouflage. To everyone else, this looks like a hobby, but in actual fact it's a gathering place for us Devils." Hyoudou looked like he was about to say something else, but Rias cut him off. "Yuuma Amano."

Now Hyoudou's eyes were about the size of plates, and his mouth was hanging open in shock. He looked like he wanted to say something, but the words simply wouldn't leave his mouth.

"You were on a date with Yuuma Amano when it happened, right?"

"… If this is some kind of joke, I'd really appreciate it if you stopped now." Hyoudou's voice was more serious than I'd ever heard it, and his facial expression was grim. "I don't want to talk about that." Actually, he didn't just sound serious – he sounded _angry_.

"She existed, Issei. She tried to erase the evidence, but she definitely existed." Rias clicked her fingers, and Akeno produced a photo from somewhere. The photo showed "Yuuma Amano," Hyoudou's murdering ex-girlfriend, with a pair of black, feathered wings protruding from her back. "This is her, right? Yuuma Amano. This girl is a Fallen Angel, the same as the man who tried to attack you last night. She came into contact with you in order to accomplish a certain goal. After she was done, she erased all evidence of her presence here."

"Goal?"

"Yes. To kill you."

" _W-Why did she have to kill me_!?" Hyoudou was approaching hysterics by this point.

"Calm down, Hyoudou," I said calmly. "Flipping your shit isn't going to help anything."

"You were just unlucky," said Rias. "There have been possessors who haven't been killed—"

"What do you mean, unlucky!?" Hyoudou snapped.

"At the end of your date with her, the two of you went to the park, where you were killed with a spear of light."

"But I'm still alive! Why the hell was I targeted, anyway!?"

"She targeted you because she wanted to see if there was anything dangerous inside you. She must have received a rather weak power reading, and that's why she spent so much time around you, checking you. And by the time you went on your date, she knew you're in possession of a Sacred Gear—"

"Yuuma said something about that! And Kurkawa, you said the same thing earlier! But what does it _mean_?"

"A Sacred Gear is an irregular power that is bestowed on some humans," said Kiba. "Most figures who have had their names recorded in history have been possessors of Sacred Gears."

"Even today, there are many people who possess Sacred Gears within their bodies," said Akeno. "Political figures, world leaders, most of the people who play an important role in the world are Sacred Gear possessors."

"I've got one, too, if that makes you feel any better," I said.

"Most Sacred Gears are only really of use in human society," said Rias. "But there are exceptional Sacred Gears that can prove a threat to us and the Fallen Angels. Issei, raise your hand."

Hyoudou tilted his head in confusion.

"Do it quickly."

Hyoudou raised his left arm, still looking pretty sceptical.

"Close your eyes and imagine the strongest thing that comes to mind."

"S-Strongest being …?" Hyoudou muttered, thinking. "Son Goku from _Dragon Ball_ …"

"Imagine it. Imagine the person you're thinking of in a pose that you associate with them at their most powerful." She left Hyoudou to think for a few moments. "Lower your arm slowly and stand up." He did so. "Now mimic the pose you were just imagining. You have to do it strongly, there can be no holding back."

Hyoudou's face went a shade of red I had never seen on another living being before. It was not out of perversion like it normally would have been, but his face had a look of intense embarrassment about it, like he was about to do something extremely childish in front of us.

"Hurry and do it," Rias urged him.

With reluctance Hyoudou brought his hands together at chest level, intertwining his fingers. "Kamehameha!" he yelled out as he pushed his hands forward violently.

"Now, open your eyes," said Rias. "This room is filled with demonic power, so your Sacred Gear should be able to appear more easily."

Hyoudou opened his eyes, and the second he did there was a great flash of light from his arm that caused him to close his eyes again, but only for about a second. The light from his left arm began to take some kind of shape, engulfing almost the entirety of his forearm. The light vanished soon after, and I recognised the red gauntlet with a gem embedded in it that now encased his left forearm as the Twice Critical Sacred Gear. If I was right about the Longinus – and I had no doubt that I was – then I had a pretty good feeling I knew what that would evolve into, and it was rather impressive to think about.

" _What the hell is this_!?" Hyoudou shouted.

"That'll be your Sacred Gear," I told him. "You shouldn't have any trouble summoning it now, though. The first time always takes the most effort."

"The Fallen Angel who called herself Yuuma Amano saw your Sacred Gear as a threat and killed you for it," said Rias. "You called out to me on the verge of death. I was summoned through this flier." She pulled out one of the fliers she had her Familiar hand out to humans so that they could summon a Devil. The text on it simply read "your wish will be granted."

There was a startled look of recognition on Hyoudou's face.

"This is one of the fliers we hand out. The magic circle in the centre is used to summon one of the Devils in our group. These days there aren't many people who are willing to draw a magic circle in their house to summon us, so we hand out these fliers as an alternative. It's safe and easy to use. My Familiar was handing them out in the business district on the day of your date, and she gave one of them to you, as I'm sure you remember. After you were attacked by the Fallen Angel, you summoned me through this. You wished so hard that you summoned me. Under usual circumstances Akeno, Kiba, or Koneko would have been summoned.

"When I was summoned and saw you, I could tell right away that you were a Sacred Gear possessor, and that you'd been attacked by a Fallen Angel. But there was a problem. Being impaled by a spear of light is just as deadly to humans as it is to Devils, and you were on the brink of death when I found you. So I decided to save your life. Though, you are no longer human. You were reborn as my servant Devil."

As soon as she had finished speaking, bat-like Devil wings sprouted from the backs of all the members of the ORC … including Hyoudou, who looked bewildered, terrified, curious, and strangely overjoyed all at the same time.

"I think it would be best to introduce everyone anew," said Rias. "Kiba."

"My name is Kiba Yuuto," said Kiba, smiling pleasantly. "As you already know, Issei, I'm a second-year like you. I'm a Devil, too. Nice to meet you."

"First year … Koneko Toujou. Pleased to make your acquaintance … I'm a Devil, too." Koneko's deadpan response was about what I'd expected.

"My name is Akeno Himejima, and I'm a third-year," said Akeno. "I'm also vice-president of the Occult Research Club. Nice to meet you, and I'm a Devil, too." She finished off with a small laugh.

Despite the fact that I wasn't a Devil, I felt the need to join in. "I'm Taisho Kurkawa, a second-year in your class, Hyoudou," I said. "I'm not a Devil, but I _do_ have a Sacred Gear, so I guess we've got that in common."

"And I'm your new master, Rias Gremory of the House of Gremory," said Rias. "My house holds the rank of Duke. Let's get along from now on, Issei."

Hyoudou looked positively flabbergasted.

"Well, as tempting as it is to stay and try and take a picture of the look on your face, Hyoudou, I think I'd better be off," I said, standing up from the sofa and putting my empty cup down on the coffee table. "Thank you for the tea, Akeno, it was superb."

"Thank you very much, Tai," she said, smiling at me. "Are you sure you have to leave now? You know I enjoy your company."

"I'm sure. The rest of this is basically Devil work, am I right?" I asked Rias, who nodded. "Not that much for me to do around here now, then. I'll be seeing you lot tomorrow."

There were words of farewell from everyone but Hyoudou, but I didn't mind. He still looked pretty shell-shocked, after all.

* * *

The encounter I had on my way home that night didn't stand out in any particular way at the time. It was one of those strange things, those moments that seem insignificant but you find yourself thinking about an awful lot later on down the line. Even now, I sometimes forget this encounter even took place. It's actually almost boring when compared to everything else that happened. Nevertheless, it is an important moment, and I shall tell you of it.

I was halfway home, and I saw a sight that had me curious. A man was moving boxes into a house. That in itself wasn't what caught my attention; rather, it was the house he was moving the boxes _into_.

The place looked normal enough by most standards, but that didn't matter to the people of the town. The outside looked fine, if a little badly aged. The windows, however, were so dusty one could barely see through (not that you'd want to unless you were a nosy bastard, and even then it wasn't likely), and what little one _could_ see was so covered in dust and cobwebs the place looked almost dead. Maybe that was what started the rumours about the place, but I doubt it – a house doesn't earn that place's reputation for just cobwebs and dust.

The rumour around town was that the place was haunted. Superstitious bollocks is what that was – ghosts are very real, but there were certainly none in there, I could tell you that for a fact – but it didn't stop the rumours from spreading, and people had stopped coming to look at that house a long time ago. But then there was this man, who looked to be in his fifties, moving in. Was he from out of town and hadn't heard the stories? Possible, but unlikely, even out-of-towners heard about that place if anyone from in town saw them checking the place out.

So … why was he moving in _there_ of all places?

I shoved such thoughts from my mind, for it was really none of my business. It could have been that the man just wanted some privacy and a place with that reputation was a good place to get it, in which case I should just leave him be.

I continued walking, but the curiosity still itched at the back of my mind. I had to walk past the man on my way home, so I hoped that what little I'd be able to see would satisfy said curiosity. As I got closer, however, I saw that the man was struggling with a box that was quite a bit bigger than the others … Scratch that, a _lot_ bigger than the others. That thing looked like I could go to fucking _sleep_ in it.

Concerned for him, I sped up my walk somewhat and stopped when I neared. "You okay with that?" I asked with a concerned note in my voice.

The old man glanced up at me sharply, and I saw that he wasn't even Japanese, which meant my theory about him being from out of town was both right on the money … and a rather large understatement.

"Could be doing better," he said. I couldn't fully recognise the accent through the Japanese language, but I thought it was British. "I don't wanna be too rough with it … this thing's precious."

"Would you like some help?" I offered helpfully.

He seemed to consider for a moment, narrowing his eyes at me slightly. "Yeah, I could do with a hand," he said. "Thank you kindly, young man. Just be careful."

"No worries." I went over and grabbed one end of the large box, and he grabbed the other. The two of us lifted, and it came off the ground with only a little strain on my end, but the old man was really struggling. "I'm Taisho, by the way. Taisho Kurkawa."

"Emory Ledford …" he said through gritted teeth.

"If you don't mind my asking, Mr Ledford, why didn't you just hire a moving crew to help you bring this stuff in?"

He grunted a little from exertion. "Don't have the money. I spent basically every penny I had on the plane ride over here and this house. Won't have any real money now until I open up shop."

"What kind of business are you running?"

"Antique shop. That's what's in most o' these boxes. The one we're carrying is an antique mirror, and I'm betting I'll get a pretty penny for it."

I was suddenly very confused. I had expected there to be something like a grandfather clock or a wardrobe in this box, but a mirror … This thing felt _way_ too heavy to be a mirror. But I was there to help, not nose in on other people's business, so I kept my mouth shut in that regard.

"Well … good luck, I guess," I said.

"Thankee-sai."

I gave a sudden start at that, almost dropping the box. "What did you just say?"

"I said 'Thank you, son.' "

 _You imagined it,_ I thought, shaking my head of the sudden paranoid thoughts that ran through it. _You've been getting a little more involved with all the supernatural crap this past week, and you imagined him saying that because you've let it get to your head. Calm the hell down._

After I had calmed the hell down, getting the large box into the house was a rather quick process. The house wasn't in quite as bad a shape as it looked through the dusty windows; in fact, it looked almost a pleasant place to live.

"Thank you again, Taisho," said Mr Ledford.

"No worries, sir," I said, brushing down my trousers. I held out my hand for him to shake. "Welcome to town." I put on my best smile.

He shook my hand, said "Thank you," but he didn't return the smile. When I went out the front door, he slammed it behind me before I was even all the way out.

 _A slightly fidgety old man, but he was an all right guy,_ I remember thinking. What I didn't realise was that, while I would never see Mr Ledford again – _alive_ , at least – I would come to curse his name all the same in the future.

In that moment, though, all I had to complain about was the speed with which he had shut that door.

* * *

 **How did you like that, Constant Readers? Not exactly my most exciting chapter, I must admit, and it's true than nothing really changed at all from canon other than Issei walking to school with Tai instead of Rias, but I chose to use this chapter to set up a few things that are going to happen in the future. This'll be the last you see of the original stuff for awhile, but just know that none of this was pointless, I'm doing it _all_ for a reason.**

 **Now, before I go, I'll answer some reviews.**

 **iceland:** Thank you. You'll have to read on to find out, won't you?

 **qweenashleyfox:** Thank you, and I wasn't going to, as I explained in the opening AN of the first chapter.

 **TJMike:** Thank you. I had gathered that from reading yours, and sure thing. No problem; to be fair, I only made my other one a harem story because I was so tired of seeing Issei sib-fics in which Issei had no influence at all over his younger sibling's personality. Most authors will give the younger brother a harem even when their personality dictates they shouldn't want one, so I just wanted to write a story where the harem aspect made at least _some_ sense.

 **pryojack25:** I have trouble holding it against Issei simply because he _does_ do things for the right reason a lot of the time; the perversion is just an aspect of his personality, which is actually true of most teenagers, he just takes it too far at times. But I do agree about the slime … Jesus, what the fuck was he even thinking?

 **victoria cullen34:** Thank you very much for your kind words, as always. I don't have any plans on Tai becoming a Devil, but he will be hanging around so much that he may as well be part of the club.

 **The Storm Master 567:** I like them, too, though some of the OC Devil stories can be interesting if the ideas are unique enough. That being said, Tai won't be becoming a Devil, but he will for the most part be helping the ORC. That's not to say he won't take on some of his own problems, however; as you can see from this chapter, I have some original plotlines for him in the future.

 **Abel:** Well, he probably won't _join_ them, considering Akeno's animosity towards Baraqiel and all that, but he _will_ have dealings with them.

 **Guest:** That's fine. Stories like this aren't everybody's cup of tea, at least you gave it a try.

 **King0fP0wers:** Since writing that first chapter, I've decided that the story won't be short, but it'll still be split into multiple stories as a way of controlling the length of it. I don't know what "Enton: Kagutsuchi" is, so no, it's not based on that. Care to enlighten me? Akeno is my favourite of the girls in the series, so of course I was going to pick her. I hope the update pleased you!

 **King. :** Thank you. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

 **lone. fallen. wolf:** Thank you. I'm not going to drop it, don't worry.

 **Entelejent:** Thank you, I tried to make it interesting. I had worried I might be mentioning that a little too much … He wants to live a normal life for reasons that are going to be revealed in future, though thanks to the story itself, things aren't going to go as he wants them to. Ah, thank you very much, I try to keep my grammar and spelling to a high standard, and I'll go and correct those mistakes you mentioned at some point. All right, I'll try to be subtle, but I'm not practised at that, so it might be a challenge at first. Thank you for your honesty; it's rare to see someone point out faults in a story without being abusive about it, and I really appreciate the advice you've given me.

 **That's about all for now, Constant Readers. If you want to see more of this, go over to the poll on my profile page and vote for the story (or stories) you want me to focus on. What gets update more often entirely depends on the results of that poll, so do vote if you haven't already.**

 **See you next time~**


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